How old was your dog when FINALLY house broken?

[GoodLifeLilly]

I am convinced that it takes 4 full years to potty train a Yorkie. I have only owned Yorkies and have a 6.5 month old, too. Jesse has his accidents and wants to mark everything from the blankets, to the walls, to the base of the toilet. In reponse to your situation, the crate has to be large enough for them to turn around in and NO LARGER. This is your only hope. The dog is let out to eat and then taken directly outside approximately 30 minutes after eating. If she doesn't poop, so be it....it's back in the crate. The reinforcement part of it is crucial...praise and reward. When you are taking her outside, come up with a few word statement, such as "outside for pee pee", or "let's go do pee pee." My female is 4-years-old and pees and poops on command. She was pad trained, as well, but used to face the pad, front paws on the pad, and then proceed to pee and poop off the side into the carpet. There is no credit for being close.... It is so frustrating, and we all feel your pain. I can assure you with great sincerity, however, that the positives well outweigh the negatives. They are so wonderful when they are trained properly....All the best, Lisa

[viviansnickers]

Snickers got it when he was 6.5 months old. We got him at 2 months so it took a long time (4.5 months)!! He is now 8 months and we love that he is trained now. All I have to say is stay consistant and never let down. Snickers goes out a sliding door, down a set of steps, onto our patio that is closed in with a small fence. The ground is covered in wood chips and this is Snicks potty spot. Now he will just go and sit by the sliding door when he needs out. Once he has pee'd/pooped, climbs back up the stairs, comes inside and sits for his treat. Same routine everytime. Its wonderful. We do stand and watch the whole process to be sure he goes. One thing--keep the potty treat a GREAT 1!! We use Wellness Pure Jerky Venison Treats. Snickers goes wild for them and I feel the treat has had a huge impact on the training as well as consistant routine!!

Smiles--

[dogbert]

Originally Posted by abock

I am going crazy. I have a 6.5 month girl who was pee pad trained from her breeder. Brought her home at 16 weeks, and she began ripping up the pee pads & eating her poop. Bought the holder for the pads and it did no good. Used FOR-Bid on the poop issue, and that seemed to take care of it. So, I finally resorted to taking her outside to do her business. She will not go if I am looking at her and she will not go on a leash. She only goes if I let her loose in the back yard and of course, then I cannot praise her when she does good, because I am inside or too far away. I cannot stay outside with her for the 20 min. it takes her to go because I have small children who are left alone in the house when I take the dog out. I am wishing I never got the dog and really need some encouragement. I have her on a feed schedule & she is crate trained. Still, she will go outside for up to 30min. and then come right in and poop in the hallway!!! I am furious! I don't know what to do now, other than have her crated the entire day and only let her out for brief play sessions and for her pee/poopp schedule. OH...did I mention she will pee & poop in the crate also! I didn't think a smaller crate than 13x24 was very humane, but she still thinks it is too big I guess! Agh!!! I have used the book "How to Housebreak your dog in 7 days." but it doesn't seem to work on this dog. Please someone give me a ray of hope...I am seriously thinking of giving this dog up. It has been 2.5 months of frustration since I've had her.

My Yorkie was 4 yrs old when she was house broken but it only took a few weeks to train her. She had been a breeder dog up until I adopted her so she had never been taught anything. I saw a trainer on tv a week ago or so and they said puppies should be house trained by 4 1/2 to 5 months old. They are considered house trained when they go at least 30 straight days with no accidents. Set a routine in training her and never waiver from it. She has to be clear on what you want and that it's permanent not just for awhile. When she does well give her a treat she only gets when she goes potty outside.

[Sandysbabies]

I wish I knew the answer. Kayla is one and half and still is not trained. She will go out and tee and come right back in and potty. Its like she thinks that is the way its suppose to be. If I put her in a her crate my husband gets upset. He said we didn't buy her to keep her in a cage. Course he thinks she does noooooo wrong. lol!!! I know what you are going through. Hope it gets better. When they look up at you with those sweet little faces its hard to stay mad for long.

[Mitzidad]

I will never let Mitzi outside unsupervised. I live in CT. We have coyotes, foxes and now the state has introduced fisher cats (ruthless killing machines). It's me, it's not Mitzi. I know that in time she will get it. I am retired and I take her out hourly during the day. I remember my Vet telling me that when it comes to Yorkies, don't measure potty training success in days, but rather in weeks. Thanks for the feedback. BTW . . . your baby is gorgeous.

[graves1983]

Originally Posted by abock

I am going crazy. I have a 6.5 month girl who was pee pad trained from her breeder. Brought her home at 16 weeks, and she began ripping up the pee pads & eating her poop. Bought the holder for the pads and it did no good. Used FOR-Bid on the poop issue, and that seemed to take care of it. So, I finally resorted to taking her outside to do her business. She will not go if I am looking at her and she will not go on a leash. She only goes if I let her loose in the back yard and of course, then I cannot praise her when she does good, because I am inside or too far away. I cannot stay outside with her for the 20 min. it takes her to go because I have small children who are left alone in the house when I take the dog out. I am wishing I never got the dog and really need some encouragement. I have her on a feed schedule & she is crate trained. Still, she will go outside for up to 30min. and then come right in and poop in the hallway!!! I am furious! I don't know what to do now, other than have her crated the entire day and only let her out for brief play sessions and for her pee/poopp schedule. OH...did I mention she will pee & poop in the crate also! I didn't think a smaller crate than 13x24 was very humane, but she still thinks it is too big I guess! Agh!!! I have used the book "How to Housebreak your dog in 7 days." but it doesn't seem to work on this dog. Please someone give me a ray of hope...I am seriously thinking of giving this dog up. It has been 2.5 months of frustration since I've had her.

You didn't say how small your dog is. I was told by a breeder the smallerthe dog, the more difficult they are to train. If your yorkie is tiny I would suggest crate training him in a smaller crate, that's what I did. Then I once he no longer had accident there ( in 2 weeks or so) I begin to crate him in a playpen, now when I leave the house daily Cesar can play sleep and drink water in him pen until we get home. Altoghter I would say my dog was trained at 6 months, but dogs like children are different, so of them take longer to train.

[Mitzidad]

Mitzi is very small, she is five months old and weighs 3.5 pounds. Our Vet said she will be very petite. The weird thing is that she only poops inside in the early evening, between 5 - 7 P.M. other then that, she is good. That what confuses me. I took her out this evening (it is 8 degrees here in CT) and she made piddle, and I knew that she was due for her evening poop. I stayed outside about 20 minutes letting her walk around the yard. Finally, I brought her back in and turned my back for a minute, and she ran into the den and pooped. I use the crate only when we go shopping, etc for short periods of time. I do like your idea of a playpen. Thanks for the feedback. This is my first Yorkie and I truly love her tenacity; she is far from a whimp.

[TurtleDove]

Ariel is almost 2 years old, and she still doesn't go to her pad 100% of the time

[Hansch99]

Originally Posted by dogbert

I saw a trainer on tv a week ago or so and they said puppies should be house trained by 4 1/2 to 5 months old. They are considered house trained when they go at least 30 straight days with no accidents.

Was this trainer dealing with Yorkies?!

[dogbert]

Originally Posted by Hansch99

Was this trainer dealing with Yorkies?!

I thought she was talking about dogs in general, but she did have a Yorkie named Corky on her lap during the whole segment.

[GoodLifeLilly]

OMG that was tooooo funny!!!! I almost pee'd myself. That trainer was NOT talking about Yorkies....and, as previously stated in one of my responses, I truly believe it takes 4 full years for them to get it...hehehehehe. My female places her front paws on the mat and poops off the side. It's actually funny, because she kicks back like a goat as if to say, "Hey, mommy, I did it." Ever since I began taking her for very long walks, she has changed immensely for the better. Now, she won't go in the house at all. The male, however, is 6 months and is a purebreed Yorkshire TERROR!!!! Good luck and thanks for the huge laugh..

[deb22]

My first baby...Penny was completely pee pad trained by 4 mos....still goes on pads ....but not outside trained....My second ...Angel was 6 mos. when I got her...she was used to going outside....so she wouldn't touch the pads....she is fully trained outside....but doesn't tell me...I just take her out the same times every day....It is hard....but they will learn if you strictly stick to it....

[Britster]

Jackson's very close in my eyes. One accident in the last five days. I can deal with that. He's almost 5 months old. I'm hoping within the next few months, we can get it down 100%. Hell, I'll be happy with him being 99% potty trained. I can deal with an accident every now and then. But it's nice to know he's gettin' the idea down.

[Erin]

Loki was fully trained by 1 year old. But he's brilliant. He has/had some medical issues that caused him to have to pee constantly which both caused some accidents past after he knew he needed to pee outside (he just couldn't hold it) but also gave us the opportunity to reward him every 45 minutes for going outside His last poop accident was when he had diarrhea when he was probably 8 months old and he has never ever pooped in the house since. He will cry/bark/lay by the door rather than poop inside. Loki is 4 and I do consider him completely housetrained. Any accidents (rare) are 100% due to his bladder condition and his not being able to hold it and are always on the floor in front of the door. His medicine compensates for a lot of his issues and he literally only has an accident like every 2-3 months.

SAMMY on the other hand was 10 months old when we got her. She was very reliable about 6 months after that, but if it's rainy we *really* have to stand on the porch and WATCH her pee or she thinks nothing of coming back in and going on a rug. If she's empty she is totally fine. She asks to go out, but she will cheat and just run to the end of the porch and run back in if the weather is not to her liking. If we know she has to go (don't worry, you'll learn their schedules and you'll know!) then we just won't let her back in until we see her go. Or we will let her in but keep an eagle eye on her. Recently she has started pooping on the bedroom closet floor in the middle of the night (ugh) because we used to walk every evening and she would poop then, but we stopped when the weather got cold. I've both adjusted their dinner schedule (3 meals rather than 2) and I try my best to make sure she poops before bed. I also close the closet door which is her spot and I steam cleaned it really well. If she wakes me up at 5am for any reason (this is usually when she does it) I take her outside. We seem to have solved the problem and the weather is getting warmer (44 degrees today!) so walks will resume shortly and the problem will solve itself. At one point I resorted to walks in the snow, which amazingly they loved but I hated Don't be afraid to get creative! I know it's sounds time consuming, but I really don't worry about her most of the day - only that last trip out at night I have to make sure she goes. Otherwise she asks to go out (sometimes demands ) and she just needs a bit of extra encouragement if the grass is wet. It helps that she knows Loki goes out about every 1-2 hours so she gets lots of opportunities to go even if she only needs to go every 3-4 hours. My BEST advice to anyone training is to go outside OFTEN so you don't let them get in a position to have an accident!

P.S. I crate them when we leave the house (which is not often, we only have 1 car so someone is always home) but more so that they don't cause trouble They have been left home and out of the crate up to 4-5 hours with no accidents because they sleep the entire time. I don't expect more than 3-4 hours out of Loki so they have never done 8 hours alone. If we are gone 4+ hours they come with. Our family knows we can't leave Loki so they know if we visit they come or someone watches them.

Oh, and don't feel sorry for Sam. She will stick her face in the wet grass and roll in the snow, but it's just too wet/cold to PEE.

[Baileyrosemomma]

Hahaha...you mean they actually get housebroken and stop peeing in the house? Well I guess at least there is hope for Bailey Rose then! i was starting to wonder.
~Sylvia